e from the ground. On his face
was a look of anxiety relieved, and he fairly beamed on those who
confronted him. His former, and would-be, captors had again come to a
halt. Almost any ordinary body of men and boys would have done the
same under like circumstances, for there is an inherent fear of snakes
in almost every one.

"Get him! Don't let the spy escape!" came the cry.

"Yes! Let's see you get him--with that snake for a protector,"
murmured one.

"I don't mind getting shot at by a German," said a voice, "but I'll be
jiggered if I want to be bitten by a snake."

"Shoot the snake!" came the cry.

"No, please don't, I beg of you!" pleaded the little man in a mild
voice that, somehow, carried to the far end of the room. "Please don't
shoot the most valuable snake I ever owned. Really she is quite
harmless; aren't you, Ticula?" and he looked up at the swaying head of
the snake that was weaving above him, as though to ask the serpent to
speak.

"Ticula!" burst out Ned. "Is that her name, Professor Snodgrass?"

The little man started, and peered through his glasses in the
direction of the voice.

"Ha! It seems there is some one here who knows me," he said. "I cannot
see him, but I seem to recognize the voice."

"I should think you would," chuckled Ned. "We've traveled with you
often enough, Professor. But this is a new one--a pet snake as long as
a lasso."

"And named Ticula!" added Jerry, with a laugh.

"Oh, that is only a name I made up for her out of her own proper,
Latin one," explained the professor. "Her real name is _Python
Reticulatus_; but I call her Ticula for short. And, unless I am
greatly mistaken, it was Jerry Hopkins who spoke to me that time. Am I
right?" and he peered about rather uncertainly, for the corner where
the three chums were standing was in deep shadow.

"You are right, Professor," said Jerry. "And we are as much surprised
to see you here as to 'meet up' with your snake, as the folks in the
South say. What brought you here?"

Before Professor Snodgrass could answer--and it has been, perhaps,
guessed before this that he was the "spy" referred to--a sudden
movement on the part of the snake made it necessary for him to devote
some attention to his "pet" as he called her.

Ticula seemed uneasy at being stared at by so many eyes, and she began
to writhe and twist as though anxious to escape. There was a sudden
scramble on the part of the soldiers and officers in the barrack
build